I Dream a Demon
by Green-Elphaba-Thropp
Summary: Chernaya Vdova was a succubus, and no one could tell her otherwise. Clint Barton was undeniably human and no amount of strange occurrences would convince him otherwise. In a world where Soul Mates are the norm and ranked by where they are on the body, it strange for a half human succubus and a strangely talented human to be matched. This could be fun!


**Chapter 1**

Chernaya Vdova was a succubus, and no one could tell her otherwise. She had made a name for herself in the world of demons and was well respected. She was strong and dark and seductive and deadly, everything a good succubus should be. If there was any doubt to just how evil she was, one only had to look at her to see there was no founding for the question. Her seductive eyes could only be described as the color of pure jealousy, her blood hair the color of wrath, with lips the color of lust. She had a deadly grace to her as she skimmed the surface of the earth never seeming to really touch it; she certainly never made a sound if her feet did touch the ground. Every single part of Chernaya Vdova screamed out that she was beautiful and deadly all at once and she did everything in her power to confirm those thoughts. She was the perfect demon taking out any do-gooder she could get her hands on. She'd hadn't aged a day in nearly 250 years, it would have been longer had it not taken her so damn long to actually look the age she did. The problem was, comparatively it hadn't taken as long as it should have.

No that's not to say that 50 human years wasn't a good chunk of time to grow up, for a mortal maybe, or a half demon. A full demon, a real succubus could never age to a young adult appearance or get their full potency from their powers that quickly however. A full demon would need at least 100 years to gain control over their powers and grow to a point they could actually use them. There in lay the problem. No matter how perfect Chernaya Vdova was as a succubus, she was not a full blooded one. Oh she covered well, lied about her age, clawed her way to the top, but she was always haunted by that hidden half of her constantly whispering annoyingly in the back of her mind to be heard. It was more than just the voice though, or the aging. All of that could be covered and ignored, it was the constant fear that came with the tiny little mark that could be found positioned so perfectly on the inside of her left ring finger.

Succubi fed on humans. They went up with names that matched that world, hers was the name her human father had given her, Natasha Romanoff, and they seduced and bedded any willing member of the population above. The better the person tried to be the more power they gained from using lust to corrupt them. Through the power they remained young, beautiful, and could continue using their potent powers that came with being a succubus. Natasha was the youngest and most beautiful in the entire underworld, so the irksome little purple mark in the shape of an hourglass with an arrow through it was a problem. Demons didn't have souls to mate with. Demons didn't feel wholesome and good emotions like love, connection, or loyalty. Those were signs of weakness in the underworld, a place where the only thing of importance was gaining and keeping power. It wasn't her Demonic side that the mark belonged to though, it was the human one.

Humans were very special creatures. They all had very specific destinies if they followed the right path. The main desire of a demon was to interrupt that path and lead them a stray. Succubi specifically were designed to lead away from the part of destiny Natasha herself had. The marks on humans were very special; they were the mark of the person's soul mate. Natasha's part of the mark wasn't hard to figure out as her Demonic name literally translated to "The Black Widow". She was the hour glass; she just hoped she never met the arrow going through it. If a human found their soul mate they would never again be able to truly follow the pull of another being. That meant that no matter how strong the succubus the target would never fall for it. The pull of the other half of the pathetic human was so small that it actually whipped out the abilities of what the demons considered to be the much stronger race. It was impractical, impossible, but it was a fact of life.

As such Natasha could list off every single thing that the little mark meant and what it could do. She had always been the kind to believe that if something had to be fought; one had to know all about it. So she knew that her little tiny mark on her left ring finger was a huge problem. It meant she was royally screwed. It might not have been so bad if the mark was on her neck or her wrist, she would have loved the mar to be on her ankle or the bottom of her foot, even over her heart would have been better than the left hand ring finger. Her mark where it was not only meant that there was no avoiding meeting her soul mate, but that there was no chance she could fight it.

Each placement of the mark had a meaning, a tell of what the relationship would be. The bottom of the foot meant there was a degree of ownership, that the other's mate owned the first, and while it came with a strong sense of love and loyalty, one could still live without the others. The ankle meant that there was a tie between the two. The mates must live together and love, but they could be separated even if they could not live through the death of the other, a life apart was possible. A mark on a mark on the wrist meant there was a strong connection that was hard to fight, they would be kept close when possible and feel the ache of distance, but aches could be ignored and hearts pushed aside. The neck meant there was a strong connection of minds, that the heads would be connected and they would share a bond and relationship without secrets because of how well they knew each other, but the logic of distance would outweigh the loneliness of being alone in one's own headspace and she could live with that. Even the heart, the physical ache with the accumulation of being tied, of knowing the other's thoughts and sharing feelings, the need for the other to live and breathe the same way, could be more pushed aside than her placement. Over the heart they had trouble with long periods of distance and being alone was nearly devastating, but she could do it, she was powerful and that need for power would outweigh the need of another person she was sure.

Her mark though, was a death wish should it ever glow. A ring finger bond was very similar to the heart. A mark over the ring finger stated that they were tied body, mind, and soul. Without close contact with the other on literally a daily basis the body would deteriorate, the mind would go empty, blank and worthless, the soul and emotions would be so overwhelming and uncontrollable that nothing could overcome it. Should she meet her mate she would have to live with them, and then she would have to die with them. She could not survive without them try as she might. It also meant that when she was on the surface, when she was close to her mate, she could feel the pull towards them. The whisper became a full voice and if she stayed on the surface long enough became a scream directing her where to go to find the missing piece of the puzzle that was her existence. The voice had gotten louder and louder over the recent decades, which had not boded well for her; it meant she had an expiration date because her mate had been borne. There was another downfall assigned only to the too strong bond of the marital finger, unlike the others, even if she did not meet her mate, she would die with them because that was her destiny, they were the key to her future and without them there would be no reason to continue and thus death would claim her.

She did her best not to think about her little human problem and she did very well a majority of the time, but some days were worse than others. Today was a fairly easy day however. The night before she'd had a great hunt. The man she'd gotten the night before was about to give a large amount of money to a charity, he was a well-respected businessmen that would have rocketed the good cause to a high standing and possibly actually made a chunk in some little human problem or another. She'd distracted him to the point he forgot all about the charity and given her enough power for the next week at least. Technically she didn't need to hunt anymore for that time, but Chernaya liked hunting had her human identity, Natasha, liked going out and living among humans, whether she would admit that or not. It had been a good night for it so far. The club was packed and she had her eyes scanning the hordes of people. Some had made moves but at this point she was able to be picky and no one had really hit her as all that interesting yet. Now she was looking at a guy who was trying desperately to flirt with her and he did nothing for her appetite.

There are some basic criteria that can draw in a succubus and have them drooling in hopes to get their target. One of them is the soul mate bond. If it's a strong bond such as a ring finger or a heart bond, or if the soul mate is close enough that it would be an interruption to the process, that's mouthwatering. This guy was still years from finding his bond and it was one of ownership, on the foot, no such fun. Another way is through how moral or good a person is. If they're to do some great deed of good they are nearly irresistible to a succubus, that power could feed for days. This guy was you're basic average everyday clubber not really meant to make all that much of a great impact on the world. He wouldn't do any true bad but wouldn't launch world peace either. Natasha would know: she'd corrupted the woman who'd been destined to. The last was sheer energy and life force. Someone who was generally energetic or had a lot to feed on was a pretty addictive meal, but this person in front of her was really nothing all too energetic. He probably spent most of his time sitting at a desk, toned or not he wasn't worth her time. She smiled and nodded but first chance she got she dismissed herself. She wasn't desperate and the club was really a bust that night. She walked out of the glass door and into the night willing to call it a wash. She turned the corner heading for her ride back to the underworld when there was a flash of light so disorienting she collided with a solid, warm, and certainly male body. She felt a spark shoot through her like she created in her victims and knew in that instant what was wrong. "Shit." She said only to hear the exact same word said the exact same way from the body in front of her. Well that was interesting.

* * *

A/N:

!IMPORTANT!br /  
So basically since the Soul Mate diagram I set up is a little confusing at the end of each of the first couple chapters is a step by step explanation of what the hell is going on with that Shit!

HERE IS STEP 1 OF THE EXPLANATION:br /  
Basically every single person with human blood has a mark SOMEWHERE on their body that is a picture of something that represents them crossed with something that represents their soul mate. They are Born with this mark and when you meet the other person the mark glows! It's a nice way to tell someone HEY LOOK IT'S SOMEONE IMPORTANT!


End file.
